Air bearings enable rotors to rotate between 100,000 and 200,000 rpm conveniently. Different from the conventional air bearings which require constant supply of compressed air, the advanced dual mode air bearings developed in the centre need minimum air supply or none, making them suitable for mobile machines, such as turbochargers and gas turbine engines.
Research in this field includes optimisation and biomimetic surfaces.
The figure on the left is a CFD simulation of a conventional thrust air bearing. The figure on the right is a thrust bearing of the same dimensions but with a biomimetic surface, resulting in about 50% increase in lifting force